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SEARCHIn order to strengthen their culture at Gadabout SalonSpas, Frank and Jana Westerbeke strive to understand how each person on their team processes information. To do that they utilize the True Colors personality assessment too.
At Gadabout SalonSpas and Verve Salons in Tucson, Arizona, Owners Jana and Frank Westerbeke don’t just see data in terms of numbers, but they also view data through colors.
“Dana is instrumental and a must, and it’s important to review those numbers with staff members all the time,” Jana says. “But we’ve also learned it’s important to balance the right and left sides of the brain, and critical to find ways to touch each employee.”
To help them connect with their team, they’ve taken strides to make sure they understand how each team member processes information, and they integrated the True Colors personality evaluation into their culture.
True Colors is a model of personality identification that is easy to understand and apply. With the colors of Blue, Gold, Green and Orange, test distills the elaborate concepts of personality theory into a user-friendly, practical tool used to foster healthy productive relationships.
For example blue personalities are warm and compassionate, spiritual and idealistic and great communicators, but other personalities view them as overemotional and pushovers. Orange types are high-energy, spontaneous and good negotiators and problem solvers, but others view them as irresponsible and uncontrollable. Greens are creative and visionary, calm and rational, but others view them as intellectual, aloof, eccentric snobs. And Golds are efficient and decisive and are good planners and time managers, but others see them as boring, stubborn and bossy.
“The personality evaluations help us be better communicators,” Frank says. “If we know how each employee likes to receive information then we can communicate in a way that resonates with that individual, and that makes communicating things like numbers in one-on-one sessions much more effective.”
The test is easy to understand and administer and the salon’s managers reference it frequently. But it doesn’t just come in handy at work. “It’s been really fun to see them use this information in their everyday lives. The knowledge helps them be better communicators.
Frank and Jana Westerbeke will show salons how they strengthen their culture at the Data-Driven Salon event in Atlanta, June 25-26. For more information and to register, visit datadrivensalon.com.
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